PARLIAMENT | Part of the reason Putrajaya's 2019 budget is zero-based is to prevent year-end "Christmas shopping" by the government, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

"What is important is that we don't want things to be postponed to the year-end in what is usually called 'Christmas shopping' because the allocated amount is not finished.

"They will try their best to finish it (their budget) by the end of the year [..] this is something we want to prevent," Lim told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Under zero-based budgeting, all previous, recurring and future expenses must be justified.

Lim said in the long run, the government will not abandon outcome-based budgeting as it was important to see how the people benefit.

"We want the ministries to justify their spending, and after that, we will see if there is high impact for the people or not.

"With this approach, we can save because we will get the biggest bang for the buck so that every RM1 spent gets maximum returns," Lim said.